42 THE HORSE. 



little in accordance with the military or riding school 

 practice. Nevertheless, before a young horse or a 

 racer, which lunges or carries himself too heavv for- 

 ward, be taken to the road, he is most successfully 

 treated at the riding school, where they will set him 

 more upon his haunches, give him a better mouth, 

 and teach him better reining. This improvement, 

 however, must not be carried to the height of military 

 custom, which, by giving a horse lofty action, detracts 

 from his speed ; and by making his mouth too sus- 

 ceptible, and his neck unsteady and vacillating, ren- 

 ders him unfit for our common active system of equi- 

 tation. 



SECTION VIII.— Shoeing. 



In this country, where such vast numbers of horses 

 are kept, and where their labour is so severe and in- 

 cessant, its severity naturally falling on the feet, which 

 are destined to bear a fundamental share of the bur- 

 den, no wonder horse-shoeing has ever been deemed 

 an art of great national importance, that it has ex- 

 cited the invention, the wit and empyricism of such 

 countless numbers of writers, and that it has never 

 failed to be a popular subject. Such also has been 

 the case on the Continent, and we originally derived 

 the rudiments of this science and art from the writers 

 of Italy and France, and the practice from artists of 

 those countries, who found it worth their while to 

 seek employment in England, where, during a long 

 period, they were in high fashion as marechales or 

 ferrers. In the mean time the art was, in general, 

 at a very low ebb throughout this country, the horses 



